OTTAWA \u2014 The Ottawa Senators did so many things right on Saturday, but once again they didn\u2019t get the goaltending needed to record the win.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a far too familiar refrain for the team this year and a significant reason they find themselves struggling to get out of the bottom half of the Eastern Conference standings.<\/p>\n
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Saturday was a difficult one for the Senators (22-19-6) to shake. Ottawa jumped out to a 5-3 lead over the division rival Montreal Canadiens and watched the lead disappear in a span of 65 seconds late in the third and then lost in overtime.<\/p>\n
The Senators outshot the Canadiens 34-19 and it still wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n
Jake Sanderson had an impressive outing with a goal and three assists but was honest when asked about the team\u2019s goaltending.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think, you know, Leevi (Merilainen) made some good saves,\u201d said Sanderson. \u201cBut, you know, I think at the end of the day you\u2019ve got to make more than 10 saves to win a game.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Merilainen is in a difficult situation.<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old was given the starter\u2019s role when Linus Ullmark announced on Dec. 28 that he would be taking a leave of absence for personal reasons, Since then, the Senators have gone 4-5-1.<\/p>\n
But goaltending has been an issue all season, even when Ullmark was around. Far too often this season goaltending has let the Senators down.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit frustrating,\u201d admitted head coach Travis Green. \u201cBut, you know, I give our team a lot of credit, they\u2019re battling, they\u2019re playing good hockey. Our goalies haven\u2019t been at their best. We know that and our team is still bringing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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With Ullmark\u2019s return unknown, the Senators signed 37-year-old veteran James Reimer to a one-way contract for the remainder of the season earlier this week.<\/p>\n
The Senators are back in action Sunday against the Detroit Red Wings and it\u2019s possible Reimer could make his season debut. Green was asked but did not want to discuss Sunday\u2019s game when he was still reflecting on Saturday\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Aside from the score Green liked his team\u2019s performance. He admitted there were a few things early on that could have been better, but he liked how they came back and battled after falling behind 2-0.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOur team can hang their head, or they can be mad,\u201d he said. “I\u2019d rather us be mad. We played a hell of a hockey game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green admitted he felt his team deserved a better fate.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes you\u2019re going to dominate a game and you\u2019re going to lose in overtime, and then you\u2019ve got to come back and play the next one,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of how we\u2019re looking at this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Players took some responsibility for not providing enough defensive support.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think as a group, we need to do a better job in those moments, helping Leevi out,\u201d said captain Brady Tkachuk. \u201cBox out, where he can see the puck. It\u2019s why it\u2019s a team sport. Everybody\u2019s got a part in it, and it\u2019s not just on one guy. It\u2019s the whole team, and we need to do a better job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ottawa has 10 games left before the Olympic break and will need to get on a run if it hopes to salvage the season. The Senators sit seven points back of the Buffalo Sabres, who hold the second and final wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 18, 2026.<\/p>\n
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 The Ottawa Senators did so many things right on Saturday, but once again they didn\u2019t get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5104],"tags":[536,229,93,2217,5,1338,6874,539,21,4,72,25,5157,73,1796,824],"class_list":{"0":"post-414126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa-senators","8":"tag-brady-tkachuk","9":"tag-buffalo-sabres","10":"tag-detroit-red-wings","11":"tag-eastern-conference","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-jake-sanderson","14":"tag-james-reimer","15":"tag-linus-ullmark","16":"tag-montreal-canadiens","17":"tag-nhl","18":"tag-ottawa","19":"tag-ottawa-senators","20":"tag-ottawasenators","21":"tag-senators","22":"tag-the-senators","23":"tag-travis-green"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115915783151573439","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}